Trash Mounts in San Francisco Janitors Strike

AP

Published: May 31, 1988

SAN FRANCISCO, May 30—
A strike by 1,800 janitors here entered its seventh day today, leaving downtown and the financial district strewn with trash.

Members of Local 87 of the Service Employees International Union, which serves more than 200 buildings downtown, went on strike last Tuesday night after months of negotiations with the San Francisco Maintenance Contractors Association.

Pickets were set up at many of the buildings, and the labor action has resulted in 3 injuries and in the arrests of at least 10 strikers.

On Saturday, the police said, strikers chased a security guard and clubbed the guard with their picket sticks, but no other details of the incident were released. There were no arrests. Teamsters Honor Pickets

San Francisco members of the teamsters union have voted to honor janitors' picket lines, halting garbage service as well as and freight deliveries and pickup at affected buildings.

Mayor Art Agnos indicated Friday that he might become involved in the dispute if negotiations scheduled for Tuesday failed.

''We're hopeful that both sides can come to the bargaining table and progress can be made,'' said Deputy Mayor Hadley Roff. ''If not, then the Mayor's office would become more directly involved.''

Effects of the strike were evident throughout downtown and the financial district. Workers in business suits were seen carrying heavy packages that the teamsters truck drivers refused to take from curbside parking spaces into the buildings. Two-Tier Wage System

The union is seeking a 50-cent hourly wage increase in each year of a proposed three-year contract. It also seeks to stop a management plan for a two-tier pay system in which new employees would receive less than current workers.

Management also wants to freeze the workers' $11.25 hourly pay for all three years. Bob Ford, alawyer representing the employers, said that even with the wage freeze the janitors would be the highest paid in California.

Unions representing longshoremen and the building trades plan to meet Wednesday to consider whether to honor the picket lines.

''It will be peaceful, but I'm sure the supply lines will be tightened up considerably because that is what this strike is all about,'' said Walter Johnson, secretary-treasurer of the San Francisco Labor Council.